The movement of the trunk and breast during front crawl and breaststroke swimming

Breast displacement has been investigated in various activities to inform bra design, with the goal of minimising movement; however, breast motion during swimming has yet to be considered. The aim was to investigate trunk and breast kinematics whilst wearing varying levels of breast support during two swimming strokes. Six larger-breasted females swam front crawl and breaststroke (in a swimming flume), in three breast support conditions while three video cameras recorded the motion of the trunk and right breast. Trunk and relative breast kinematics were calculated. Greater breast displacement occurred mediolaterally in the swimsuit condition (7.8, s = 1.5 cm) during front crawl and superioinferiorly in the bare-breasted condition (3.7, s = 1.6 cm) during breaststroke, with the sports bra significantly reducing breast displacements. During front crawl, the greatest trunk roll occurred in the sports bra condition (43.1, s = 8.3°) and during breaststroke greater trunk extension occurred in the swimsuit condition (55.4, s = 5.0°); however, no differences were found in trunk kinematics between the three breast support conditions. Results suggest that the swimsuit was ineffective as a means of additional support for larger-breasted women during swimming; incorporating design features of sports bras into swimsuits may improve the breast support provided.     

Development at the Youth Level of a Conception of the Causes of Behavior and the Effectiveness of a Learning Program in This Area

Differential effects of variety versus repetition in the development of categorization skills were studied with fifty-four 5-year-old Head Start children, using a sequence of programmed booklets to teach a social studies unit on workers.

It was hypothesized that children receiving Intermediate Variety (two categories, twelve instances, presented once) would demonstrate superior performance on transfer to new instances of the trained categories when compared to those trained with Low Variety (two categories, six instances, presented twice). Secondary hypotheses were that children trained with Low Variety would demonstrate superior performance on a mastery test when compared to children receiving Intermediate Variety, and that High Variety (four categories, six instances) would be superior to both Low and Intermediate Variety in transfer to new categories.

By analysis of covariance, scores of the Intermediate Variety treatment were significantly higher (p<.05) on Near Transfer, supporting the hypothesis that children receiving an Intermediate Variety will demonstrate superior performance on the transfer to new instances when compared with those trained on Low Variety. The secondary hypotheses could be neither supported nor rejected on the basis of the data.     

Mathematical Communication in the Classroom: A Teacher Makes a Difference

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) states that “Communication is an essential part of mathematics and mathematics education” (2000, p. 60). In fact, communication is one of the five process standards emphasized by NCTM. The communication standard highlights the importance of young children communicating their mathematical thinking coherently to peers and teachers. This standard also states that young children should use math language to express mathematical ideas (Baroody, 2000; Ginsburg, Inoue, & Seo, 1999; NCTM, 2000; Rubenstein & Thompson, 2002; Whitin & Whitin, 2003). Teachers must create a link between mathematics and language (Rubenstein & Thompson, 2002; Stigler & Hiebert, 2004). This article focuses on the informal strategies used by Melissa (a kindergarten teacher) that promoted the use of math language. The strategies were identified during a 3-month observational period in her classroom at Clinton Elementary (pseudonym). Clinton Elementary is located in a low-income neighborhood of a southern city that has a population of approximately 450,000. The neighborhood population is predominantly African-American (Davis, 1994).     

Online multiplayer games for the social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder: a resource for inclusive education

ABSTRACT

This article describes the support for social interactions received by three students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) through their multimodal engagements with Minecraft®. The data were collected through at-screen observations and semi-structured interviews. Multimodal analysis of the data demonstrated that online multiplayer games supported social interactions through modes, such as speech, writing and gesture, and within physical and virtual spaces. The analysis revealed that online multiplayer games provided platforms for the students to use speech to engage in reciprocal conversations, to share information, to make requests, to give commands and to direct others. Additionally, screen-based written texts were used to attract the attention of others, send messages, communicate rules and maintain engagements with others within the students’ physical and virtual worlds. Furthermore, the findings showed that online multiplayer games supported the students’ uses, interpretations and mirroring of gestures for social interactions. The findings have implications for providing opportunities to support social interactions in multimodal ways that social spaces in face-to-face and offline contexts do not allow. The findings offer implications for targeting the students’ interests in online multiplayer games to support their capacity to initiate and sustain social interactions in inclusive educational settings.     

Sexual and reproductive health information sources preferred by out-of-school adolescents in rural southwest Uganda

This paper defines how out-of-school adolescents from Masaka District in rural southwest Uganda currently receive sexual and reproductive health information and how they would prefer to receive that information. Information adolescents feel they lack falls into three broad categories: sexual and reproductive health issues, the negotiation of sex and sexual relationships, and making the transition to adulthood. The preferred source for information depends on the type of information to be delivered, the overriding principle being that the source must be authoritative in that type of information. Current information sources including family, peers and media are perceived as either flawed or insufficient. Preferable sources fall into three categories based on the type of information provided: accurate sexual and reproductive health information should come from trained community and media-based rather than clinic-based health educators; information about negotiation of good relationships and the negotiation of sex and condom use within relationships should come from an up-skilled traditional source, ssenga (paternal aunt), particularly for young women; and social information about becoming a good adult should come from parents, grandparents, church and community leaders. All information should be positively framed and non-judgemental. Centrally coordinated community health promotions delivered by trained community-based health educators, ssenga and parents, guided and supported by existing radio and print media, are required.     

Evaluation of a school-based sexual abuse prevention program: Cognitive and emotional effects

This study evaluated a school-based child sexual abuse prevention program which consisted of separate 2-hour workshops for children, parents, and teachers. Questionnaires concerning the children's knowledge about sexual abuse prevention and level of emotional distress were developed and administered to 88 children, ages 5-12, and 60 parents before and after the program. In addition, 12 teachers completed questionnaires about the children's level of emotional distress within 2 weeks after the program. Comparison of the children's knowledge before and after the program showed significant increases in knowledge about strategies for coping with potential abuse situations. Also individual children's responses were compared with their parents' responses. After the program the parents had a more accurate appraisal of their children's knowledge, and in addition, there was a significant increase in how much parents reported that they had talked with their children about sexual abuse. In terms of possible adverse emotional effects of the program, neither teachers nor parents noticed signs of increased emotional distress. In addition, the children reported that the program made them feel safer and better able to protect themselves. The findings support the value of providing sexual abuse prevention programs to children.     

Literacy learning as cruelly optimistic: recovering possible lost futures through transmedial storytelling

In this article, we “think with” theories of affect and transmedial storytelling to explore the cruel optimism that standardised reading pedagogies (e.g. read alouds; leveled readers/independent reading) can produce for readers. We draw on particular moments in a first grade classroom to argue that such pedagogies transmit “normalizing” affects that promise upward mobility, college and career readiness/success, classroom community, and happiness but instead produce literate identities, which cruelly reinforce the racialised, gendered and classist myth of meritocracy. According to Blackman (2019), cruel optimism is harmful because it normalises particular fictions and fantasies that are presented as scientific truths without acknowledging that these dominant stories are but one narrative, thereby closing off other ways of knowing, being and doing. This work offers pedagogical possibilities for bodies that are often read as unsuccessful (e.g. disengaged and struggling) and/or successful (e.g. happy and engaged) and explains how the guise of optimism can fail to acknowledge the larger social, political and economic forces at play. These forces shape the unfolding of academic realities that are simultaneously connected to the past, present and future.     

Intelligence and Achievement: A Behavioral Genetic Perspective

Understanding the etiology and relationship between standardized intelligence and academic achievement tests is essential, given their ever-increasing role in American education. Behavioral genetic studies have examined the genetic and environmental etiology of intelligence, academic achievement, and their relationship. Results suggest that genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences have an impact on intelligence and academic achievement. Behavioral genetic studies also suggest that the importance of genes may vary as a function of age. Other studies suggest that genes drive the correlation and that the nonshared environment drives the discrepancy between measures of intelligence and achievement. Implications for the identification of intellectually and academically relevant environmental influences are discussed.     

Attuning to In-the-Red Frequencies with/in Readers Workshop

In this article, we ‘think with’ the theoretical concepts of flow, rupture, layering, and sampling to affectively attune to ‘in-the-red frequencies’ flowing across/with-in a New York City primary classroom—that is, alternative sonic frequencies that trouble and refuse hegemonic literacy practices. These hip-hop concepts theorise affect in relation to Black intellectual frameworks for moving, feeling, and sounding. Such frameworks honour philosophical practices emerging from Black people's lived experiences—practices that, historically, have been perceptually coded out of legibility by white supremacist institutions. Ultimately, we argue that thinking with flow↔rupture↔layering↔sampling enables more equitable practices that push literacies ‘into the red,’ namely, by respecting multiple perspectives, histories, and truths; accounting for power, privilege, positioning, and complicity; and highlighting ‘otherwise’ social worlds not predicated on hegemonic whiteness, anti-blackness, and socio-political violence.